I feel that this is all in all a good recording. It's certainly better sonically than most concerts I've downloaded so far.

I personally prefer to suck out a little bass and add a little treble. I'm listening through iTunes playing back on AKG K240 headphones (I listen at work, so I can't play through speakers). I find the 'phones wonderfully accurate, so if something sounds good on them, it probably is good, and if something needs adjusted on them, it probably needs adjusted.

So, just with iTunes Equalizer, I pull out about 3 dB each of 64 and 250, and add about 3 dB each of 4k and 8k. I think the bass is well-defined, as the taper defends, just that it's a bit much. Hence the (slight) cutting of the bass frequencies.

Definitely a good concert (the audience can be a little loud at times, but not obnoxiously so) and sound quality is above average for sure.

Not sure how I feel about the "fade out" and "fade in" being self-contained tracks...but that's something that's easily changed with my trusty audio editor (or heck, just rip them into iTunes with "Join CD Tracks" selected).

I was recently introduced to Josh Ritter in name only, as he will open for Sarah Harmer when I see her in September. Is she taper-friendly? So I started with this show. Very nice songs; sweet.

And the recording is top notch, five stars. There is nothing mediocre about it. Very intimate atmosphere was well captured.

Thanks a lot Brian. Great job!

Thanks for the feedback, Crog, much appreciated. I always find it interesting how different people hear things differently. Thank goodness we have a broad range of recording and playback gear from which to choose! :)

FWIW, I find the drums and keyboard very well balanced with Josh's guitar and the bass on my playback system pumps through clearly with good definition well below 60Hz.

Usually, I find the primary reason people feel a recording's bass is too muddy has more to do with the capability of their playback system to reproduce the bass on the recording, rather than the recording itself.

One thing I've learned over time is the playback system makes every bit as much of a difference as the recording gear when evaluating the sound quality of a recording.

What playback gear are you using? FWIW, I'm listening on:

Toshiba POS CD/DVD player >
smART D/IO DAC >
Audio Experiences Symphonies preamp >
Adcom GFA555 power amp >
Magnepan MMG speakers / Pinnacle Babyboomer sub

I'm only reviewing the sound quality here.
Overall it has kind of a flat sound in the midrange, Josh's guitar comes through nicely, but in most places the drums and keyboard get lost. The bass frequencies sound pretty boomy, so much so, that I can't listen to it at a normal volume unless I equalize it (to remove bass around 60 Hz). Once I turn down the bass, it's actually pretty listenable. The songs where Josh plays solo (eg Stuck on you) sound good, but with the full band things get murkier. Anyway, it should sound a bit better, considering the mic was only 30' from the stage.